No invitations yet, but Canterbury has asked the primates to reserve the week beginning Oct 2, 2017 for a meeting in Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury has quietly asked the primates of the Anglican Communion to reserve the week beginning Monday, October 2, 2017 for the next primates meeting. In an email sent by staffers at the Anglican Consultative Council to the primates and moderators of the church on 27 July 2016, the ACC stated that date had “been selected as the date for the next Primates’ Meeting. The meeting will take place in Canterbury. We will write with a formal letter of invitation in due course but I would be most grateful if you would now confirm this date in your diary.” The meeting is expected to hear an interim report from the task force created by the Archbishop of Canterbury in response to the request by the primates in relation to the actions of the Episcopal Church of the USA. It is unclear, however, who will be invited and who will decline the invitation. Relations amongst the churches are at a point not seen since the boycott of the 2008 Lambeth Conference, with a number of GAFCON affiliated primates and others nonplussed by what they see as a disconnect between Archbishop Justin Welby’s words and his deeds.
